13 Best In Business
by Wandering7Doctors
Summary: Ramification Nightmares, the source of the Doctor and Max's recent troubles has finally revealed itself, and the process endangered the whole universe. It'll take everything to fight this, but a more vile hand lies at the center. And it is prepped to strike. The 13th Doctor Adventures: Year 1 (Part 5)
1. The Nightmares Set Loose

The Doctor was a joy to watch on television.

Even as she changed, the looked suited her in the eyes of the Figure watching every monitor. The actions were not limited from a change in gender. Granted, it was still… irritating to have one's work sabotaged. Everywhere Ramification Nightmares had stuck roots, the Doctor and her newest pet were burning them out. A self-destruct function had to be installed just to keep more data from the Time Lord.

All the different screens showed that time had made the Doctor far more tenacious in the later regenerations. She managed to outfox Rassilon himself, impressive but not too difficult. Each incarnation had left a rather impressive scar of chaos in their wake.

The Figure found it all fascinating, but the game was getting bothersome.

Looking Max, a plan formed that would allow dear Candace to be of use, but such a move would be anticipated by the Doctor. In fact, the only surefire way to ever catch the Doctor off guard was… wait…fire…

The Figure smiled.

There would need to precautions, but risk would be essential until the trap was set.

"Don't overexert yourself, Doctor, if you wanted to know about my business, I'm more than happy to send an invite."

A button was pressed and all Hell broke loose.


	2. A Doctor's Rage

"You really should invest in a gun, Doc."

It was the only proper thing that either had spoken while using healing pads that patched the up the latest scratches courtesy of Ramification Nightmares' now-decimated factory.

"Not really a good idea," the Doctor said. "Guns tend to make things too simple when they shouldn't be. Leads to people being dead when they could have been better."

"You really think some of these monsters could be better? A 'good Dalek'?"

The Doctor pulled a pad away from her now healed face to look at Max with cold sincerity.

"Max, the idea that one could become good, that they could change, is the reason I can never give up on even my worst enemies. Even the Master could be good, I tried to help her do that."

The young woman looked at the Time Lord with curiosity, they had discussed a bit of the enemies fought just in case one of them was behind these machinations.

"And did it work?"

The Doctor got quiet after that, she couldn't help it. She remembered that final moment twenty minutes before her last stand with the Cybermen, when both versions failed to hear the words of her past incarnation. Failing her friend had been a deeper wound than any caused by the Cybermen.

Max seemed to get the idea and rifle through nearby a bin for something that might help with the healing. They had managed to decimate 12 various factories, all based around weaponizing people or pathogenic creatures, but no real sign of why. The Doctor rarely remembered being so exhausted, the first true time it happened was when she needed to regenerate. The task had become far more athletic in the last few centuries. Granted, the victories had been a lot more worthwhile for it too.

Nostalgia almost blinded over her vision but then she had a near double heart attack. Max held what she must have mistaken for a silver thermos. It was not.

"Max." the Doctor stressed, which made the young woman freeze, which was a wonderful thing to have when holding _that._

"W-What is it, Doc?" She aimed to lower it but froze when the Doctor waved her hands.

"Don't," the Doctor said. "Do. Not. Drop. That."

"What I am holding?" Max's hands trembled.

"If I told, you'd definitely drop it."

 _"What!?"_

"Sorry, that's probably not helping."

"…No." Max muttered. "It's not."

The Doctor stood up from the bench in the medical lab and carefully walked forward with hands outstretched. They kept eye contact through it all as the gap narrowed, air seemed capable of splitting a skull. In some unconscious connection, a plan was formed where Max would let go and the Doctor would catch. Success gave them a chance to laugh about this, failure… well, there wouldn't be enough left to regenerate from so no need to worry about the Tardis' wrath.

The hands were in place, and certain death was released.

Hands gripped around the tool and life continued. A small letter was attached to the canister.

 _ **If you need it, Professor. It'll make sure things don't get boring.**_

 _ **-Ace**_

"Who's Ace?"

The Doctor looked around and pulled out a whole bin of the cannisters. Max screamed and dived for the doorway. The Time Lord took a breath and placed the device with its destructive brethren.

"A wonderful student and the best of teachers." The Doctor said with a smile. "What you were holding was one of her favorite tools, Nitro-9."

"You keep grenades in a metal bin but guns are a stretch?"

The Doctor shrugged.

"I just find guns make you careless, and Ace was the one who decided what needed to be blown up, I just knew where _not_ to be when it went off. It is quite powerful, so calling it a 'grenade' is like calling a thumbtack a sword."

The Time Lord wondered if she should stop speaking so that Max could actually feel safe being inside the Tardis. After a quick scan it was clear the healing had been a success, at least they were in better condition than the data being acquired by the facilities. They were getting close though, everything is being blown up which meant someone was paying attention.

But that also meant the game could shift.

Everything inside the Tardis lurched horizontally and the Doctor and Max fell flat onto a nearby wall. A booming bell chimed through the massive ship. The enemy had shown their hand.

 _The Cloister Bell, do they have that kind of impact?_

The Time Lord and her companion struggled to their feet the as the Tardis righted itself and charged down the hallways. They had experience doing races down the various halls to keep in shape. The two reached the main console in less than thirty seconds, the core flashing blood red. Max stepped back, letting the Doctor while mesmerized by the strange horror in front of her.

"This is bad, right?"

"The Cloister Bell chimes when the whole universe is at stake, the stars are screaming out for help." She grabbed and nearby screen and pressed several buttons. Numbers and symbols flashed across and changed in the span of seconds, rearranging the order as well as the structure until a solid visual was shown. The Doctor stepped back and together the two women analyzed what they were seeing.

A massive platform of a satellite, larger than the Joy Star, made of black metal that refracted the space round it, and no lights. But the planet adjacent… was a blazing inferno, the Doctor could see the blood splattered in the streets and screams abruptly silenced. She wanted to shout with absolute fury but took a breath and focused on the logic of what they were seeing.

"That is the main headquarters of Ramification Nightmares. And whoever's in charge unleashed their entire product line on that planet. This will not happen."

The Doctor charged over to the console and made a manic rush across the controls, working off of instinct and sheer willpower to not let such suffering commence.

"But, Doc, w-were looking at it now," Max said with utter sorrow in her voice. "Isn't too late."

"Time And Relative Dimension In Space, that is no nickname, Max, it is promise," the Doctor said as the coordinates were settled. "I am the Doctor, I save people, and this madness ends now."

With a pull of the grand switch, the Cloister Bell faded with a fierce light as both pilot and ship roared through reality the wag war on Hell. This is a trap, whatever bit of logic had endured through her incarnations warned her of this truth, but all thirteen selves also knew the responsibly. This shadowy leader did this to call them out. And that should make them very afraid.

The Doctor was angry.

And the universe gets very small for those foolish enough to dare find out why.


	3. A Drop Into Madness

The sudden collision with reality was so strong that Max got flipped about and nearly fell over the side. The Doctor caught her, the Time Lord seemingly immune to lurches of her ship. There was a tension that squeezed in around them, the Tardis no longer felt safe.

"She's trying to warn us," the Doctor said while placing a hand on the console. "I'm sorry, old friend. This needs to be faced if we're going to save everyone."

A low grumble of irritation echoed from the Tardis, but it subsided.

With all arguments settled, the Doctor turned to look at her companion. Max nodded, ready to see this through and face her oppressors once and for all. The companion wondered if the Doctor bought her lie as much as she wanted to. This place churned out horrors every other minute, walking into Hell was not the definition of wise.

The Doctor flipped a switch and a layer of safety came over Max's sense of fear. She watched the Time Lord walk over to one of the round things on the stairs, apparently a security measure that worked like an external camera. Max couldn't see anything but assumed it wouldn't be pleasant and waited until it couldn't be avoided.

"Okay, I've put up the shield, managed to get us close, but we're still just outside the facility," the Doctor said with a sigh. "What comes next, that's going to be tricky. We're twenty feet above the facility, with a 600 foot drop onto a hard metal floor at the base of the satellite. And you know… space if we miss that."

 _Choking in the abyss, freezing up, and dying. Fun times._

Max had been threatened with the charm of being released through an airlock during her first and only escape attempt from the Rift games. They had promised her teammates would be sent out instead if she ever dared escape again, or if she lost a match. That motivation caused her to become the best champion in the game's history. And now the scum responsible were right below, prepped to unleash Armageddon on a nearby planet. She had no idea how much of a window they had but these psychos moved fast. They just had to be quicker then.

"Okay, Doc, what's the play?"

The Time Lord nodded, her expression showed that this last bit would be the most unpleasant. She descended the stairs of the Tardis and disappeared within the hallways. Max waited for the revelation that would make things interesting. When the Doctor returned, what she held in her hands made the next step of their attack plan… disturbing.

"Well, at least I found the rope."


	4. Sudden Guests

Arthur Lorin was growing quite certain he had gone insane. He had false alarms for the past year of service in Ramification Nightmares. But now, nothing seemed capable of protecting him from the bitter truth of how much the universe should condemn him. Sure, they had made every employee observe video feeds of their family and loved ones every, single, day, and yet he couldn't dare make that an excuse for what he'd been involved in.

Most of the lab work was done with drones, but the materials gathered could only lead to one conclusion in his mind. They had been building weapons, the kind that were legitimately built for nightmares. He wondered how atrocious the acts of violence could be but he heard the phrase 'product useful over large radius population', he threw up.

Not all those in Hell were victims, he reckoned the little helpers had space slotted for them too. These pleasant thoughts haunted him when it could feel a shift in the air. At random times, they sent projects down to the adjacent planet, Yami III, which he sometimes heard referred to their locale as 'The Devil's Claw', because of the jagged outline expressed from the base when viewed through from the surface. Arthur wondered what it was like to see the sky, he sometimes forgot they were space in those fugue states from overwork, especially with the lack of windows.

He walked down the path of hallways, the lab was shut down, which usually meant that more horrors would be unleashed. Arthur forgot the last time, if ever, that so many of the other scientists were outside in the hallways. He wondered if any of them enjoyed their work. But the question was too twisted, especially if they did. No matter the profession, someone always enjoyed the job enough to make it efficient business.

Arthur decided to try and get some exercise by going to the upper deck, no one tried stop anyone because escape was impossible. He liked the quiet, the higher Arthur went the less of the horrific noises filtered through from below. If he was careless, or lucky in the worst ways, one of the paths might lead to an air lock.

In the highest space reachable on foot, the ceiling above him, he gazed at the main entrance all the new scientists were shuffled through. That was the only thing they recalled after being snatched from their homes when they finally came to, the finest in their fields with slight accolades. The kind of brilliance that gets overlooked since they hadn't done anything too significant.

The main entrance hadn't been opened for years. Whoever worked here were the only souls he'd seen in the last five years that they were trapped inside.

That made the knock from above that much more disturbing. It wasn't a creak from displaced air in the vents, especially when it repeated itself with two more solid thumps from above. They sounded… like footprints. There was also noise, talking!? Talking in space?! They even sounded argumentative, as if one of them were more troubled by their status than the other. The strangely experienced one knelt down onto the… roof? Arthur thought he could even smell air, and a strange clicking noise. This was followed by a sharp hissing heat.

Sparks formed in the ceiling, someone breaking in? When the trail of flame made a jagged circle, Arthur instinctively stepped back.

The chunk burned through crashed into the floor, with a rope and hook attached. Two women, one with blonde hair and other with dark hair, slide down through the opening.

"Well, that was smoother than I expected." The blonde woman said with a grin. "Usually the nasty business is done in the basement, common principal to think the attic's unoccupied."

The dark-haired woman's eyes were transfixed on Arthur, neither of them knew what to say. But she did have a response.

'Doc…" she said while tapping her partner on the shoulder. "Someone's in the attic."

The 'Doc' turned to look at him, but her gaze was more indifferent. They stepped off the platform as the blonde woman tugged down on the rope. She pulled away and the affixed hook yanked the chunk of ceiling back into place. The woman then pulled out a device that flashed blue. Sparks reignited where there had been burn marks, sealing them in. She then aimed her tool at Arthur. The Doc a quick sweep and scanned the device.

"No gun, poisons, or other weapons, and the heart rates erratic." She muttered to herself. "Surprised to have company, Prof. Arthur Lorin?"

He yelped slightly, clutching his head as if she read his mind. With a sigh, the Doc tapped her lapel. Arthur repeated the gesture, and with a sigh bitterly realizing he was wearing a name tag.

"What is that you're using," his curiosity managed to surface for the once after so many years of fear. "Some kind of sonic device?"

"Quite astute of you, Professor," the Doc, probably a Doctor said. "Please, don't take this personally." The device was aimed at his trousers.

Before he could blink, his belt unbuckled and dropped his pants to the ankles. He instinctively knelt down to grab and stopped midway to realize he had taken his of—

The younger woman tackled him to the floor, spun around and clamped a hand over his mouth. He was too terrified to move least of mumble.

"This place, Ramification Nightmares, you see, Professor, my colleague and I wish to decommission this establishment, permanently, and have no time for any 'pride in the company', so…" she nodded and Arthur felt an arm wrap around his throat. The Doctor's companion wasn't working to kill, she had the strength for that clearly, but it was more of a… gentle squeeze… to keep him out of the way… as… they d—

The slight thought sparked his adrenaline and he struggled against the woman's hold, mumbling for all his might. He tried to speaking the words, but they sounded too jumbled in his ringing ears. However, the Doctor didn't seem confused.

"Max, stop," she said with a grin. "You need to hear this."

The companion still maintained her grip, clearly not as easily won over but a deeper trust liberated Arthur's mouth.

"Y-You say you plan to stop this place, shut down the whole facility?"

"That is the rumor," the Doctor said as she knelt down in front of them. "You don't sound too disappointed in the idea of being unemployed, Professor Lorin. Am I to believe destroying this site would be agreeable to you?"

"If I could, I give you the bloody kerosene myself," Arthur said. "But I know what could be just as good."

The Doctor nodded, she gave off an attitude that could have belonged to someone older. With a gesture Max released Arthur and helped him up. She looked slightly apologetic, in fact… this Max woman was almost… familiar.

 _Max…_

But his thoughts were pulled aside the by the Doctor latching onto his arm.

"Well then," the Doctor said with a grin. "Take us to something worth burning."


	5. Word From Management

The descent to Ramification Nightmares' lower levels went surprisingly unnoticed. The Doctor led the way while Max kept Professor Arthur Lorin between the two of them. He was a man in his mid-thirties with copper bronzed hair and a slight build thanks to a blank yet subtly-depressing atmosphere. The kind of indifference one expects when filling in ants into a death trap. One of the scariest ways to create indifference in death is when pest control can be utter Hell for the 'pest' and yet a homeowner is only expected to appreciate that killing machine takes up so little space. As they casually walked down to where other scientists ignored them, trapped internally as well as physically into not paying anything much attention, the three got to know each other.

"You expect to me believe that you two have been fighting Ramification Nightmares all this time? Doctor, how have you survived so long?"

"With great care," the Doctor replied. "I once stopped an invading army of Sycorax by facing their leader in single combat, while wearing pajamas. That was a weird Christmas morning."

The Doctor considered the fact that her words probably sounded quite insane, considering how what the she did on a 'daily' basis was supposed to be impossible. She had become far more sporadic over the centuries, no longer the stranger traveling about unnoticed. Occasionally, someone noticed, which is why they needed to figure out who was capable of such a feat.

Worse still, what if they were expected?

"Would you say all those working in this facility are most likely under some form of duress, Professor Lorin?"

"Just Arthur, please, if you don't mind, being a 'Professor' is the main reason I'm trapped in here." He said. "And yes, as far as I can tell we're all prisoners because of our brilliance. How did you come to battle this monstrous business?"

"Didn't have much choice," Max said. "For me anyway, Doc got involved and made sure surviving for so long was worth it."

The young Professor eyed Max warily, a dawning revelation came upon him and the expression from a nearby lab technician who stomped towards them. The Doctor blocked his path, but couldn't prevent his words.

"You're Max Lin," he snarled. "Y-You were in the Rift Games. You ruined my life. When you destroyed my machines I—"

"Hold it," Max said as Arthur suddenly became the one holding her back. "Your mach— YOU MADE THE SPONSORS!"

This outburst got the attention of the lethargic scientists surrounding them. A few looked especially shocked, they recognized Max. They too were disappointed. Arthur formed a loose shield between them and the slowing forming circle of lab coats.

"Max, you know it wasn't an option for these people, they were forced into it."

"I lost a lot of money in that franchise, I almost went bankrupt because you decided to misbehave." The man didn't have a chance to say much more before the Doctor spun into him, turned around, gripped his coat, and pushed her hips against him as she flipped him over her body. As he crashed the circle dissipated, people rarely expected consequences when they sought to threaten smaller prey.

"Please, don't make light of my friend's suffering," the Doctor said. "You're too well involved in this to not realize people died because of the facility, and many suffered worse fates."

"That was business." the man muttered.

"You want to say that again before losing a full set of teeth?"

The Doctor was having time both struggling to keep her friend from the makers of her nightmares and possibly letting go. Arthur at least made an effort and stepped forward.

"These two can end this, they're the ones who've been trashing everything the maniacs in charge have been having us make."

"So, they're the ones who've been ruining our lives," a woman from the group shouted. "We get punished when they interfere. I bet, if we take them to management, they'll reward us."

The crowd started to gain an acidic edge of greed. _So much for unfortunate victims._

"Please," Arthur said. "Any money promised is childish, have any of you actually seen a cent of what we allegedly made in this madness?"

That managed to kill some of the spark in some but a few clearly had gone past the point of caring. One person the Doctor worried about the most was the woman from before inching towards the wall. A shift in the fickle crowd helped her see the intercom.

"STOP!" The Doctor screamed.

This just pushed the woman and see stabbed the red button.

"Management…"

The Doctor had overlooked how she had let go of Max. Her companion charged but was forced to grapple with the man from before who complained about profits. Arthur worked to help her, which forced others into the scrap, and left no one to stop the woman from finishing her call.

"We have saboteurs. The Doctor and the wretch, Max Lin."

Max screamed as she punched several people but was forced to the ground by sheer numbers. The Doctor pulled out her screwdriver, which made them pull away until one of the men said it couldn't hurt a fly. They were surrounded and no comfort could be found for them or their new friend Arthur.

"Professor Lenin is a traitor, we of Lab 3 through 5 expect compensation for what is above our pay—"

 **T-That is ENOUGH**

The crowd dispersed. A Sponsor walked through the now open lab door, a brief case in Its metal hand. This was one was different from the Sponsor's encountered at the Rift games, the lack of hat showed off a clean dome of skull and slight sparks generated from around the shades, especially when focused on Max. The Doctor guessed this was either an upgraded version or… the main one.

 **M-Maxie, Max, Max, you look well**

"Go to Hell!" Max snarled as the Doctor helped her up, the attackers had backed away, smiling. The Sponsor seemed quite irked, a genuine frown formed on Its features.

 **Doctor, did you know me and my associates share a hive mind?**

The Sponsor removed Its shades and revealed two blazing blue eyes cackling with electricity.

 **'Parking meters that unionized', right, M-Max? Pretty funny, but you should know by now, no need to G-G To Hell, We Make It Here**

"Um," said the woman who used the intercom, "Now about compensa—"

Electricity zipped down the Sponsor's face, around his left hand and struck the woman. She fell to the ground, dead.

 **S-So sorry, but I am not programed to take input from former employees**

Its smile returned, especially as the Doctor's rage showed.

"W-What do you mean 'former'," the man concerned with money said. "We need to get paid."

 **You are**

The Sponsor looked at the crowd, Its smile widened at the sight of their panic.

 **Don't feel t-too sad about this, I am what you made me. And yes f-former employees, buddies, you see, we have decided to close up shop and torch a good chunk of the universe, your services and existence are now exempt. As compensation for that time, here is the financial equivalent of all your pay, capable of purchasing 40 Devil Leeches.**

The words made everyone back up. The Doctor, Max, and Arthur were the only ones still facing the Sponsor.

"Devil Leeches," the Doctor said. "We haven't run into anything like that."

"They're new," Arthur said, trembling while his eyes were fixed on the case. "Weaponized parasites. They leave no survivors."

The Doctor looked around, people were shouting what she assumed were emergency shutdown codes that either no longer worked or had been a sick joke all along. Others tried opening doors with invalid keycards. Whoever wasn't focused on escape focused on praying to whatever Gods could forgive their sins, others tried assuring the Sponsor how they were worth more alive than the others.

Everyone stopped when the Sponsor unlatched the briefcase.

 **Don't feel sad, come get your money's worth**

The case fell, and Hell unleashed itself. Small, snake-like, creatures coiled out and slithered with the speed of bullets. They latched onto the legs of nearby scientists, biting fast, pulsating as life drained from their victims. The dead fell in less twenty seconds, and the creatures rushed towards their newest victims.

Scientists now were begging the Doctor and Max for help, as if the desire to place their heads on silver platters had been a poor joke. The Time Lord never got surprised from the ways the nature of cowards proved to betray others as much as themselves. Still, the evil of this place needed to stopped, and she knew one man who managed to remain whole in this madness. She learned in her last incarnation the value of being in a team.

"Arthur, stick with us." she held out her hand and he took it. Max latched onto the other and they pushed through the throng of panicked scientists and rushed for the door marked ASSEMBLY LINE.

"It's locked." Arthur said.

"Not when I'm involved." The Doctor said as she pulled out the sonic screwdriver.

"Doc, they'll follow us out!"

"Nope," the Doctor said. "Those creatures don't have eyes, they work off of signs of life, vibrations, in other words, noise."

After opening the door, and allowing the scientists to flood through, the Doctor raised the setting and tossed across the room. The Sponsor twitched at the intense frequency, a pre-programmed setting made Its programming quite vulnerable to the Doctor's tool. Its buzz forced the Devil Leaches to swarm and tangle about it in a mesh of death. The Time Lord, along with her recent and new companion shuffled through as the leeches made quick work of the technology, the door slammed shut behind them.

A few of the scientists sprawled alongside a nearby railing, mostly begging for help while a few muttered how they had brought suffering onto them. Most clearly ignored how their recent colleague had broken the illusion of protection all on her own. Now they were in the belly of beast, and no screwdriver to help them, but the Doctor had dealt with wor—

"D-Doc..?"

The tone made her spin around, seeing the young woman… and the deep bite on her ankle. Arthur moved forward, gripping the sides of her face Black veins had formed and Max's face had become too pale.

"I-It's fine," she coughed out. "The teeth barely dug…" her voiced trialed off and it took all of Arthur's strength to stop the woman's sudden urge to fall while her eyes rolled back to white.

"MAX!" The Doctor screamed. She rushed over to the young woman's side, the poor girls' body convulsing violently.

"Should have known better than to mess with our business, 'Doc'."

The Doctor had no idea what face she showed the woman who made the comment, but she looked prepped to kiss a weeping angel before speaking poorly to the Time Lord again. None of that mattered though, as far as the Doctor was concerned she had just lost.

Then a hand touched her shoulder.

"Looks like you need a proper Doctor."


	6. A Doctor's Assistance

Death had been the constant promise dangling around Max's head, teasing and taunting with how eager the universe desired her dead. The Devil Leech had been bit her before she stomped on it, but burning tendrils of agony clawed up Max's leg. Arthur and the Doctor's faces were the only things that stuck in her mind before the darkness.

But Death teased yet again.

She saw white, but it wasn't Heaven. Just pale luminescent tile that blinded her slightly as light reflected off the fluorescents. Max processed being laid out on some kind of table in a doctor's office. She had only ever been in one to be inoculated, as a child, but she knew the motif of one thanks to films and television. The particular office was so polished, dust appeared to be a creature comfort not known in decades.

The light was blocked as the Doctor's relieved features pressed in on Max.

"Max, are you okay?" The Time Lord had never appeared so disturbed. Whatever the Devil Leech did must have made Max look fit for Hell.

"I'm fine, Doc," Max mumbled. "Honestly, if we could kill the light, that'd be nice."

The radiance dimmed upon her words.

"Apologies," Max jumped at the new voice, a woman's. "The higher luminescence burns out the bacteria. You've never been healthier, Max Lin."

 _Is that why I was on the verge of death?_

Max shook off the bitter confusion to focus on the orange-haired ponytail of her savior. The woman wore a lab coat almost like a cape, a striped shirt, suspenders, black slacks, and red-rimmed glasses. The look expressed every ounce of sincerity and indifference, like the Doctor.

"Excellent, you've made a complete recovery." The woman grinned bittersweetly as she eyed everything around them. "Looks like these toys can be worth a damn sometimes."

She then walked away to eye a nearby chart while standing beside Arthur. The woman pulled out a device and a red laser buzzed into Arthur's neck. He clenched his teeth at the sizzling contact, but it thankfully only lasted a minute. The Doctor went over to Arthur, after making sure that Max was okay, being a shoulder to lean on.

"W-What're you…doing?" Max muttered.

"Making sure the devices in our necks don't explode." The woman offered the Doctor her tool, pointing at the spot to shoot. The Time Lord obeyed and the woman managed to stay standing, clutching a table for support. She recovered quickly, nodding at the Doctor before going to check on a nearby monitor.

"Well, it's settled," the woman said, after scrolling through a list of names. "We are now declared dead before the culling. With the threat of death via complimenting the enemy removed, may I congratulate you on your efforts to correct our sins, Doctor."

The Time Lord eyed the device she as given, eyeing the mark where flesh had been seared, and placed on the counter but within reach.

"I'm not a fan of being a celebrity," the Doctor said. "Who are you, and why aren't you among the pack who were prepped to sell us out to your former masters?"

The woman grimaced, but her look didn't express surprise at the Doctor's lack of trust for strangers.

"Most of the mob were deluding themselves into thinking money were to be made. Others, like Arthur and myself, were involuntary volunteers, our own brilliance condemning us to servitude. I am Doctor Mira Rain, and I wish to help my enemy become my savior."

Max found it easier to stand upright without blacking out or puking, so she risked further harm by testing out her footing. After feeling stable enough to not topple over, the companion sluggishly moved to her Doctor's side.

"We could use an extra pair of hands, Doc." Max said, finding her voice again.

The Doctor said nothing, just walked over to the monitor where the other members of Ramification Nightmares were still displayed. She cycled through it all, and came across the list for deceased. Max joined her, seeing how Doctor Rain and Arthur were declared not among the living. Ten names became Fifty in less than a minute.

"Oh no." The Doctor said.

"The Facility is terminating all unnecessary employees, namely everyone with a pulse. Arthur, we've cheated the system but only until they spot us on the cameras. Doctor, if there's any proof to that 'Tardis' we were being asked to make preventions against, might we as they say 'bum a ride'?"

This made the Doctor spin around, her hidden animosity no longer secret. Max almost forgot how much these people had killed so many like her. Being brought back from the dead had a way of creating bias.

"We don't leave while this place stands." The Doctor said flatly.

"Oh, brilliant," Doctor Rain said. "Then this will be our grave. This is automated to produce and ensure death, there is no getting around this."

"All those files and you haven't learned the obvious."

"Which is?" Doctor Rain said while her crossed her arms.

The Doctor pulled her sonic screwdriver and pressed it to the control console. All the living employees immediately flipped to being identified as dead. Max thought the worst, but the grin from the Doctor knew she didn't need to worry.

"Everything's absolute until I get involved."

Arthur marched over and inspected the data.

"They share our condition," Arthur said. "But it's like Rain says, the security won't be fooled for long. I'll admit, I'm impressed, Doctor, but you do have a plan, right?"

The Time Lord said nothing. She closed her eyes and Max recognized this as 'battle formations'. The Doctor spun around as she pulled up the security feed, ignoring Doctor Rain's speculation as to how she hacked into the system, and pulled up every screen. Scientists, Doctors, and other greedy/unfortunate souls were on the run for their lives as Sponsors and other maladies rampaged through the halls of Ramification Nightmares. Throughout the chaos, the Doctor drummed her fingers on the console, playing to a rhythm only she could hear. Max was fine with being muscle, this would make up for all those souls she couldn't before.

 _Candace, I'm coming back to you… count on it._  
The Doctor's body tensed and Max believed the plan was set.

"Ready, Max?"

"Always, Doc?"

The Time Lord smiled.

"Let's get to work."


	7. A Companion's Courage

The problem with imagining the idea of blowing up one's office was that it would be literally 'all or nothing'. Namely, failure meant the severance package would be severed along with the rest of Arthur's skin, bones, and organs in that order. They had assorted hallways of diagrams for those who misbehaved, taking a concept from a species named The Boneless.

Tearing down an establishment that manufactures mass destruction sounds far more reasonable when one wasn't INSIDE IT!

Max Lin was less perturbed by their overall efforts, despite just coming back from the dead. The way she had to listen to the Doctor's words once and just charge in.

How damn long had it been… since he knew that people could be so tenacious.

"Hey, Artie, you doing alright?" Max said, without taking her eyes off of tampering on the panel.

The nickname broke his nerves, it made playing lookout seem comical. Granted, the hallways were clear of everything except the sweat pooling from his forehead. But all he had to do was blink and a flood of Devil Leeches would swarm down on them. Not much could be done at that point besides yelp before being worm food, but they had nothing else.

Just a laser scalpel that could only eat through metal and wires in several minutes. This was the fifth or six panels that controlled the jamming frequency. One more and the Tardis, this supposedly magical box that's helped caused nearly simultaneous attacks on various, would be able to come in. The Doctor decided not to go into specifics, just that this will be settled for good.

This could only lead one place, blow this all to Hell.

A few scientists had tried, stick enough people with big brains and bitter feelings in one spot something will go fire. However, the implants would later sabotage these moments. Worse, they gave the upper staff… ideas of how to handle low production numbers in certain branches. It was nightmarishly easy to understand why the work stations had see-through walls since it helped… make it easier to watch…

"Hey, Artie, this panel's fried, are we clear to the next one?" Max slammed the panel shut, leaning back as sparks fizzed just shy of scorching flesh.

"How do you know how to do that?"

"I don't," Max said with a shrug as she faced him. "I know poking something you shouldn't makes something pop."

"No, I mean, well yes, but, wait, NO, how do you trust this woman? How long have you known her?"

Max paused, not immediately refuting how Arthur had asked her to speculate time after… being with a time traveler…

The Athlete bounced back quite well.

"Best guess, a month."

That just helped add to the crazy.

"You trust a madwoman in a box you've only known a month?!"

"Honestly, I trusted her after two hours. The way she could go bowling with meteors, you'd trust her too."

Arthur was not too surprised since he read the reports, but there were stills parts of him eager to fight his guaranteed chance at survival. He wondered, perhaps that was the conditioning of hopelessness or worse… that part of him wanted to die for what he helped create in this place of nightmares.

"Here's the thing, Artie," Max says as she gets up. "The Doctor, that madwoman with a box, there's not a thing she can't pull off. But she's trusts me enough to not screw. I aim to be worth that trust. Let's get to that last panel."

She walked on the down the hallways carefully, the cameras were down but line-of-sight was still in play. Arthur stood back a moment, stunned by Max's tenacity blazing in her eyes. It helped to prove how small his brilliant mind had become.

 _Hope, redemption, forgiveness… why should I care about any of those for myself. People are in danger, that should be enough._

Arthur stood straighter than he had in years.

 _It will be._

The two climbed up a nearby stairwell, so far no danger. Max used a small device to track where their final target was located. Arthur's mental image of the facility made him put a hand on Max's shoulder.

"What is it?"

"Max," Arthur said with a sigh. "I-I think you should what happened on this floor."

She turned around to give him her full attention.

"Whole house of monsters and this where you get fidgety? What's here?"

"…The monitor room."

Max almost dropped the device.

"All employees had to watch the effectiveness of the products we created… when they were placed in the field."

The Doctor's Companion's other hand clenched into a fist. A spark of anger promised instant pain, but a strained grimace and trembling arm show the insane restraint. She directed the hand towards the door, opening it up to an white space. Rows upon rows of screens in cubicles lined the whole floor. Arthur and Max could clearly see the devastation being caused by the machinations of Ramification Nightmares. The Companion gazed at the place where strangers watched all those around her die horribly in The Rift Games… for profit.

Max dropped the device, her shoulders slouched in reluctance. Before Arthur could blink, she rushed to the nearest monitor, picked up the white office chair and smashed into the expensive while screaming for all those who had silenced by semi-reluctant observers. Arthur didn't dare say a word; there were a lot of chairs left. The Companion turned and picked up the device, looking at it vacantly.

"The last panel is at the end of the room," Max said in a passive tone. "Let's get this done." She trudged forward, not daring to look at the other monitors. Arthur followed from a safe distance behind. He failed to process just how Max or the Doctor could see all of this madness and still act some trick of skill or luck could bring it all down. He wanted, but looking around made even dreaming the idea pointless.

Keeping an eye on the grim environment made him see a figure rise up in the corner. Pathos burned up instantly, he just rushed forward without hesitant and tackled Max. A whole chunk of cubicles and monitors flew across, almost decapitating the young woman before crashing against the far wall.

 **Max, damaging company property is incredibly disrespectful.**

The Head Sponsor from before walked out into the middle, only a few feet ahead of Max and Arthur. Its arms were crosses, eyes blazing with electric sparks. Several screens near It cracked from the electronic pressure. Arthur had to look down to make sure he hadn't accidently made his pants wet in dear. Max remained calm, raised the tool up, the equivalent of a toothpick against a chainsaw.

 **Honestly, I fail to see what you expect to achieve? Look about you, Max. Tear us down and we'll come right back. All to pull off the big goal.**

"Which is what?" Max said.

The machine swiveled Its head about the room, seeing all the chaos.

 **Monsters, mayhem, and all the money it buys.**

It laughed as electricity sparked out of his eyes, showering down on everything. Max stood her ground, no rage flashed on the woman's face. Only irritation showed.

"How stupid do you think I am?"

 **Trust me, you don't want me to give you a number, it's pretty low.**

"No, you bloody can opener!" The Head Sponsor grew less pleased after that. "All this chaos, it's just noise. Something only the Doctor could be able to notice. So who's doing this? Who wants the Doctor's attention?"

The electricity dimmed. There were no more ecstatic movements of murderous glee from the machine. In a very sober tone, the Sponsor explained.

 **Honestly… She got bored waiting for the Doctor.**

 **I think… despite their 'history', what with that time loop from 2013…**

 **The Devil in the Name wants to play with the Doctor again…**

The machine's body lurched as if some hidden programming re-corrected Its primarily malicious purpose.

 **B-But that's no concern of yours, M-Max, considering what she has planned, you're BETTER OFF GIVING ME YOUR HEAD!**

They didn't have time to process the potential clue as the Sponsor raised both hands and every screens exploded. Ducking, ears ringing from the concussive bursts of electric mayhem, the Arthur and Max tried running in the opposite direction. They stumbled as the door they entered from erupted in fire, the stairwell was gone. Now the only exit rested near the panel. Max gripped his shoulder, her words were hard to process through the ringing but he got the message. In a second, he was alone and about to make it much worse.

"C-Control command Bad Dog, Control Command B-Bad Dog!" Arthur shouted, even with his hearing temporarily trashed, he did his best to shout the phrase.

The Head Sponsor stomped towards him the billowing smoke, a mass produced Grim Reaper with a copper grin.

 **Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, did you honestly think that deactivation code worked? It was designed to make any fool desperate enough to use it a target for immediate, painful, disassembly.**

Its hands gripped two desks and swatted each into opposite walls, the sparks in Its eyes had turned blood red, looking down at Arthur with pre-programmed glee.

"A-Actually," Arthur stammered as he back up to the burning ruins of the stairwell door, the Head Sponsor closing the gap with a every step. "I-I figured that was the case. I'm just bad at improvising distractions."

They both turned to look as a metal panel clunked shut. Max Lin stood tall beside it, smoke fizzing out of the damaged machine. A grand whoosh of power destabilizing rolled through the whole facility. Shields were down.

A low grumble of burning fury echoed from the Sponsor as It about faced to tear Max apart. Arthur grabbed the nearest chair and took a swing. The Head Sponsor caught the chair without looking, twisting it out of his hands, before turning to face him.

 **Arthur, so disappointing, you s-still act like there's some type of redemption for you?**

The scientist backed away, barely missing a swing that would have taken his head. He tripped up and fell, the heat from the stairwell promising no painless exit. The Head Sponsor no longer resembled machine, this was a grinning demon.

 **Here, allow me to give you what you truly deserve.**

Desperation made Arthur reach into his pockets and freeze up, confused by the weight in one pocket. _How did t—_

A hard metal hand gripped his throat and pressed into the floor. He could barely breathe and something felt on the verge of breaking in seconds. The cold copper smile would be the last thing he saw as darkness clawed away his vision.

 _Not… just yet!_

Finding some flash of courage with life, Arthur yanked out a small disk and the slapped the Sponsor's elbow with it. The second it made contact with metal, the disk clamped on creating a massive shock that coursed through every portion of the Sponsor's body. Arthur scurried free as the Head Sponsor jerked about, trying to claw the source of Its agony off. It barely registered the whirling wheels coming up fast.

Max knocked into the Sponsor, forcing It into the rolling chair. Arthur clambered up beside her and together pushed the deadly machine into the fire. They heard a crash metal and a booming explosion that sent up a fireball the two companions had to dive away from. Fire crackled but there were no other problems that arrived.

 _We won,_ Arthur thought.

"Nice moves, Artie," Max said as she patted him on the shoulder. "Let's get moving, Doc is going to be making her move. She said we need to get to the docking bay. That's where our ride will be."

"O-Our ride?"

Max turned around, giving Arthur a half-hearted grin.

"Don't tell me these murderbots got the stutter from you," Max said. "Yeah, 'our ride', companions of the Doctor unite." She raised her fist as her grin widened. Max motioned for him to follow suit. He hesitated, his hand clench but gulped back the urge to express the solidarity.

"It was right," Arthur said. "I'm… the reason you suffered. No better than the scum who thought this could be 'good business'."

"I don't want to pretend I could ever understand what it means to run with the Doctor, but whatever it means… I'm not worthy of it."

Max said nothing, her fist still in the air. She stepped forward after a moment, gripping Arthur's shoulder. The touch was like a bolt of lightning through his soul.

"Trust me, spending anywhere from a month to a minute with that women could make you something phenomenal. You're more than worthy, Artie, especially since you actually give a damn."

She patted him on the shoulder and began to walk away. Max stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"Just wait until you get inside the big-blue box before you decide anything."

"W-Wouldn't it be cramped in there?"

Max said nothing, she just stared out at the distance as if something crossed her mind. Whatever it was, it made the young woman chuckle a little bit before walking on to the exit. Some hidden joke had clearly been expressed that could only be proven by following through. It did sound better to Arthur than dying in this madness.

The two proceeded to make their way to the docking bay, Arthur no longer doubting how a madwoman in box could battle this evil. No matter what it would be amazing to see.


	8. A Devil Known

The Doctor, that was her name and with it a promise to never be cruel, cowardly, or give in. A promise which made this Time Lord become the force for good; countering a universe bent on evil at every turn. This would be the latest battlefield, her allies already charging through the enemy barricades. Now the Time Lord of Gallifrey did her part, with help.

"I honestly don't understand what good a teleporter will do us." Dr. Rain muttered.

This had become a common trend of complaint the Doctor lost patience with well before it ever started. The red-haired doctor's annoyed demeanor promised it would continue.

"It's all part of the plan."

"As you've said, every, single, time, and yet I am of the opinion a vague response promises little to no cohesive structure. You repeatedly refuse to consider the self-destruction devices, multiple ones we've come across. I thought this was meant to end this facility."

"The building houses the infection, burning it away prevents better hands from being able to create an effective antidote. I mean to trap this evil." Medical vernacular aside, the Doctor couldn't help herself from feeling… uneasy.

"Why do want this place to burn?" She never looked at Dr. Rain, instead working on the last circuits to the door. No sonic gave her a chance to feel the challenge more.

This also helped the Doctor hear how Dr. Rain behaved when the woman assumed the Time Lord couldn't 'see' her.

A tremor of confusion.

Not fear.

"Y-You try dealing with Devil Leeches at 'meal time' for eighteen months and tell me how safe you feel in this locale. They fed them interns!"

Even the exclamation felt rehearsed. A sudden sharpness entered the woman's voice.

"Why did you choose me for this venture?"

The Time Lord turned away from the collection of wires, the fingers of one hand gripping them, as she turned to look the red-haired woman in the eye.

 _Because I don't want you alone with Max or out of my sight._

"I wanted to see what it was like working with a fellow Doctor." She said with a keen smile.

Dr. Rain mimicked it all too well.

A click of two wires together and the door slid open easily. The woman's eyes remained locked a second more before turning to the door. They went through to, a quick finger flick triggered the door to shut behind. It took the Doctor ten minutes to work on the console.

She had solved it in two.

The puzzle remained unsolved.

For now.

The facility was primarily a composite of many laboratories with interconnected hallways and stairs. No scenic views, a lack of motivational posters, and death around every corner helped remind the Doctor why she never liked working in cubicles. Anything that reduced people to cogs in a machine, sometimes literally, could only be trouble. Granted, that forced her to make conversation with the only entity of interest, Dr. Rain.

"So, you're an expert in medicine?" The Doctor said.

"More chemical than medical, but I do understand anatomy quite thoroughly. But that's not what you're asking."

"Sounds like it is." The Doctor leaned out by a nearby hallway, seeing if the monsters were waltzing through.

"And _not_ how my ID badge is for Engineering?"

"Probably mixed it up in the laundry with the other Dr. Rain, accidents happen."

The Doctor wondered if she could bother to keep this up. The other woman decided to not continue playing around.

"No," Dr. Rain snapped. "I will not be seen as a threat."

The Time Lord turned around and for a moment it was debatable to know what the greatest threat in the facility was.

"My opinions are mine and built entirely on what little I can gleam from others. And I know even less about you. Just an urge to burn and a talent for hiding throughout the system. I did notice the nametag, a quick gleam of the system proved you've been promoted adjacently, in a middling position; not too low to be stepped on but not too high to gain resentment. That can't be achieved that consistently without a personal hand."

A shimmer of cold brilliance blazed in the Dr. Rain's eyes.

"Okay," She said with a sigh. "I'll you the truth."

The radiance of honesty burned through.

"I created this place."

The Doctor was actually shocked by the honesty.

"Ramification Nightmares," Dr. Rain said. "The perfect means of getting easy money. Weapons are quick to sell because someone always desires to kill someone else. After a time, the business became too good. It was only supposed be a brief activity, until I got what I needed. Now I just wish this to end."

The Time Lord remained silent, eyeing the woman who expressed a cruelty that disturbed her to the core. A slight speck of secret remained, she could tell it was there. But the truths known and the situation at hand proved too important to be distracted by little dangers, not with Max in danger.

She leaned in, staring hard into Dr. Rain's eyes.

"When this is over, you will answer for these crimes."

The smirk Dr. Rain gave her now that the mask had been shed made the Doctor's hearts shiver, it seemed familiar.

"You will try, Doctor. But that would require your survival. And you won't make it to the teleporters without my help. Partners?" The hand outstretched to the Time Lord may as well belong to a devil, Dr. Rain's growing grin proved their mutual awareness.

 _I do not need to be her to do this._

That thought crossed the Doctor's mind as she took Dr. Rain's hand. And she'd do her best to make sure it would not be a lie.

The path became easier for both women, Dr. Rain took the lead. Being in charge of facility, while only a private truth, did have its advantages.

"We'll be at the teleporters in a moment," Dr. Rain said as she prepped to use her special keycard for the remained barricaded door.

"Had that on your person and yet you decided to use it now?" The Doctor, not really interested in the truth so much as her response.

"My wish was to keep as low a profile as possible. This caused me to have a lower security clearance than what I deserve. What I should be hearing instead of annoyance is relief that I spared us the violent response from security detecting us until this moment."

There wasn't time for rebuttal as Dr. Rain stabbed the card into the slot and the door quickly shot open.

"Forgive me, just figured we were pressed for time."

The Doctor barley got a chance to glare before her peripheral vision flared and she was ducking lasers spraying down from above. The two rushed forward, ducking behind a downed shuttle that had crashed. The cockpit had been blasted to nothing and the engines were crippled but the hull carried a bit resilience. This allowed the Time Lord to get her bearings.

To call the Docking Bay large would be an understatement, the remaining ten floors worth of space that could fit two European Football fields was now littered with the desecrated corpses of ships… and those desperate enough to attempt an escape. At the other end, an interior room built into the wall, radiating with blue light. The Teleporting Station of Ramification Nightmares stood untouched because no one trusted a facility that promised their death to do anything remotely decent with their molecular structure.

"You still have failed to explain the purpose for a transporter," Dr. Rain said bitterly. "I suppose it's even less likely for me to learn this plan thanks to former status."

"Partly," the Doctor said, pulling a cooled-down shard of reflective glass to scope the space. "Though, personally, I don't want to spoil the surprise. If I told how we were about to get across this room, you'd know we'd make it and it'd be boring."

"And thinking I'll die is exciting?"

"Course it is," the Doctor said as she kicked the side of the ship. A compartment creaked open and out spilled several space suits. "Life's better with risk."

She proceeded to activate one of the suits. It stirred to life, humming an electric song while quickly wrapping around and fitting the doctor's body. A helmet sprung up from the collar, see-through dome encompassing the whole head. She smiled placing both hands on her hips proudly.

"First time I've worn a suit with this body, how do I look?"

"Like a grey blotch of a moving target with a lightbulb for a head," Dr. Rain muttered. "These suits aren't laser-proof."

"Ah," the Doctor said as she raised her index finger. "True, but they do have boosters and specialized shields that can at least redirect laser fire."

"All of which are inaccessible unless in deep space conditions!" The lasers had punched through the hull, leaving a molten hole and melted steel dripping down on to them. The Doctor pulled Dr. Rain away from the shower, a few seconds from being completely exposed.

"Good thing we have this then." The Doctor raised her palm to show a small silver cylinder with a button at one end resembling pen cap. Dr. Rain reached into her pocket, confusion etched on her face.

"When did you?"

"Just now," the Doctor said with a shrug as she pointed near the docking bay's main exit. "Figured out what it's for after a quick look over. You were planning to kill me with it."

She pressed the button just as Dr Rain kicked at a nearby suit. It fully encased her body just the power to the gravity controls failed. This also destroyed the stabilizing field that kept everything from being sucked out into space. Immediately, debris was sucked towards the stars with intense force. Dr. Rain staggered and was thrown backwards, tumbling with the wreckage while screaming. If the lasers, which hadn't stopped firing, failed to hit her, one of the ruined cruisers would be enough to crush her. Not to mention the cold abyss of space, far too many options to die.

All them stopped when two strong hands grabbed her space boots. The Doctor held onto Dr. Rain with amazing strength while the boosters on her back stopped their adjacent fall.

"Well, I suppose we met the conditions." She said with a happy grin.

Twisting about, carrying Dr. Rain with one hand, the two flew through one-sided maelstrom of ship debris as lasers splashed molten bursts of death around them. A slight hiss of smoke popped up on, the Doctor noticed a spot had singed her suit, but it remained intact… for now. The path was starting to clear, and they'd be able to reach the teleporter in seconds. This also meant they would lack cover before reaching the end. The Time Lord decided to work around that, quickly.

The Doctor's talent for getting a quick read on tech and found opportunity.

Gripping to the burning spot on her suit, the Doctor spun about and landed on a nearby bit of broken thrusters. Using the vacuum's momentum, she spun until the thrusters were pointed opposite the lasers. A quick crossing of wires and the machine reignited. It was a quick spark but more than enough. The Doctor pulled herself and Dr. Rain away as the thrusters shot right at the lasers like a missile. Metal smashed into metal and the most volatile piece of machinery had been decommissioned.

"Well th—"

The two doctors were knocked backwards by the sudden massive bulk of broken ship hitting them. When shock faded, the Doctor noticed how her hand was empty. The faint scream of Dr. Rain carried but was rapidly entering the void of space. There was no hesitation.

Shooting forward with the debris was actually easier when it came to dodging. The Doctor easily spotted Dr. Rain, wedged between to two large chunks of steel and rapidly approaching the point of no return. The inertia wouldn't slow down unless acted on by another force, which meant drifting further away from shelter than the suits oxygen could hold, if it didn't break apart before then.

With certain death at her current speed, the Time Lord shot forward. She raised her legs a second before impact, 'kicking' one chunk of metal to make a gap. Reaching in, Dr. Rain grasped the Doctor's hand and the Time Lord rocketed them up against the ceiling, barely missing a cluster of stampeding junk. Gliding along the ceiling, the two finally made it to the teleporters. Seven large lime-green circles were on a black platform with similar spheres mirrored on the top. A nearby control console lit up as the Doctor broke the pen. Life returned to the docking, while whatever hadn't been spaced screeched along the floor as artificial gravity kicked in.

"Are you going to continue breaking all my things?" Dr. Rain muttered as the suit retracted from her body now that the danger had passed.

"Thought you wanted it all burn down?" The Doctor said, shaking off her own suit before playfully tapping at the console.

"Fire is pure," Dr. Rain said as she ran a shoe along a deep shred in the floor. "I'm not a fan of complications."

"But they're what make life more fun." The Doctor said with a grin.

"And that is why I'll always hate you."

"What's that?" The Doctor could barely hear a thing over the hum. "Said something crass? Because you're going to be quite cross with what happens next." She grinned, pressing the buttons with an amazing grace before slapping the start button.

All teleporting stations activated at once, small flickers of mass appeared and vanished rapidly. The Doctor chuckled, having almost lost count, as she both hands behind her back. Dr. Rain stepped to the Doctor's side, eyes struggling to make sense with what was seen.

"W-What is being transmitted?"

"Seventy canisters of Nitro-9." The Doctor said cheerfully.

"WHAT!?" Dr. Rain screamed.

"A gift from a friend I finally found use for." The Doctor grinned excitedly. A bombardment of explosions erupted everywhere. The whole facility trembled with concussive chaos.

"Which of your sniveling pets do I have to thank for this?"

"That would be Ace," the Doctor said. "A grand pupil and teacher."

"Ah, yes," Dr. Rain muttered. "The small one…"

"But that fails to explain why this facility is still intact."

"Well, I'm not hitting the _facility_ , just it's mounted defense system, the jammers, a few laser cannons, and of course various escape exits. The wonders of organizing preset coordinates after the barrier between the station and the Tardis were lowered. Thank you, Max Lin."

She pressed two more buttons, and the whole facility interior turned red.

"Now what?" Dr. Rain groaned.

"Just broadcast an emergency signal," the Time Lord said. "The loudest one I could make. We're going to be seeing every bit of cavalry coming, so many people who want to play hero, they'll find evidence of what went on here an—"  
"And then I go to jail forever, if I'm lucky."

The Doctor turned her head to the farthest transporter. Dr. Rain stood in it, the circle glowing while she held up her keycard from before. A cruel smile etched her face.

"What are you doing?" The Doctor asked.

"Going back to Plan A," Dr. Rain said coldly. "I look forward to your call."

She winked just before her body dissolved into photons of light.

A slight shuffled of noise made the Doctor turn her head towards a nearby door next to the transporter. Rushing over, the Time Lord thought with the stubborn occupant inside before winning out in strength. The young man yelped, jumping backwards as if expecting to burst into flames when exposed. When death hadn't claimed him, he awkwardly lowered his hands.

"S-She's gone then?" He said meekly. "W-When I saw her… I couldn't let her get near me." Tears welled up in his eyes in horror. "Not again, not after _this_."

He turned his head and showed off a jagged scar running along his neck. It was in the exact same position as the device implanted in the neck.

"She-She wanted to test my tolerance to pain, took away my ability to black out… to sleep." The bloodied and black circles under his eyes made the Doctor's hearts stopped beating.

 _No…_

She calmly walked over to the young man. Only after he appeared comfortable with her company did the Doctor dare to tenderly inspect the markings on the young man's body. They were haphazard… experimental.

 _No…No, No, No…._

"Dr. Rain did this to you?"

"Is that what she calls herself? Figures, the real Dr. Rain said there were safer methods of testing resilience to toxins. We found her body… she'd been used to host larvae Devil Leeches, the lucky ones weren't by the door when it opened. And then… and then _She_ comes along with a bloody clipboard, TAKING NOTES!" His voice was hoarse countless moments of screaming before whimpering into the Doctor's shoulder. "The Devil In The Name, she's the worst, without even competing."

"The Devil… In The Name," the Doctor begged her words to not confirm her fear. "What is her name?"

"S-She always said if we spoke it we'd die."

"Not to me," the Doctor said, almost clutching the young man out of fear herself. "She wants me to know."

Either from exhaustion or so little faith left, the man whispered the name.

The Doctor was right.

 _Ramification Nightmares… take away all but the first two letters of each word, what do you get?_

In the silence, the Doctor could hear laughter.

The Time Lord rushed over to the console, leaving the troubled young man who almost looked disappointed that the act hadn't ended his suffering. Desperately slamming the buttons, the Doctor activated the intercom for the facility.

"Max! Listen to me, get back to the Tardis. Take Arthur. If you see Dr. Rain, RUN!"

Before she could go further, the Doctor stomached the cold pit in her stomach and looked down. A second silver pen device lay on the console.

All communication had been severed.

The teleporter fried.

There was no way to warn Max.

The Doctor could only run, charging through the chaos left over, and know her legs could never move fast before disaster striked.


	9. Devil In The Dark

The emergency lights made the whole world look like it was bleeding to Max. Her only vague comfort came from knowing that the Doctor had explained this exact thing happening. Arthur hugged the walls, looking ready for the station to be blown apart. Max would never dare see him as weak, not after they had both survived this Hell.

"It'll be okay, Arthur," Max said reassuringly. "Doc fixed this. We won."

The former employee of Ramification Nightmares failed to break free of the all but he managed to breathe more slowly. _That's a start_ , Max thought as she got her bearings. She pulled out her key to the Tardis, the small golden wonder that opened up the universe. A piece just as marvelous as every mysterious groove within the grand machine. It felt light, but not just because of the weight.

"Think fast." She said while tossing the key.

Arthur grabbed quickly, almost stumbling from the awkward burst of speed. Once he got his footing, the scientist eyed the small item with uncertainty.

"What is this?"

"The key to everything." Max said happily. "It unlocks the Tardis, Doc's ship, and that's how we got about everywhere."

"Welcome to the team."

Saying the words made everything so much clearer in Max's mind. She wondered if this was how Time Lords saw things. Maybe everything could be reduced to a series of moments of when and where, and she had reached hers at last.

"You're serious?" Arthur stood straighter, looking down at the key and all it promised. "You want me to travel with you and the Doctor?"

"Well, I mean, you are unemployed," Max said with a grin and a shrug of her shoulders. "There's no better hobby than saving the universe. But you got it wrong."

Arthur managed to pull his gaze away from the trinket and look at Max. She gave him a sad, kind, smile.

"I want you to take my place."

Her words almost shook Arthur enough to drop the key. He clamped down tighter on it, giving Max a perplexed stare.

"But you're her companion."

"I wasn't the first, and I won't be the last," Max explained. "The fact is, I could probably keep running forever. But… Candace deserves better. I love her, and whether it works or not I'm going to see her. I'm going home, but Doc needs someone in that box with her. I get it, you don't feel worthy besides did some messed up things, but not everything bad that happened in the Rift games was all on you. I accepted what I did and worked to be better. You'll know what that feels like, when you toss that to next one who gets keep that madwoman grounded."

Max had no clue if her words reached Arthur, but she clearly managed to convince him not give the key back. This was for the best since she had no faith in being able to resist it if offered the beautifully small trap.

"The Doctor," Arthur said. "Would she… truly trust your decision?" _Would she trust me_ , was the question implied.

"One way to find out, Artie," Max said. "First test, that key, you feel some kind of echo, like a whistle only you can hear? Try and follow it."

He looked prepared to argue but froze. His hand holding the key trembled. With eyes closed, Arthur turned slightly, following sound that could only reach him. Max felt the hum from it though, a whirring groan that dimmed and boomed in a steady pattern. The Tardis was singing, and Arthur could hear the tune. Arthur eyed her, she nodded to confirm that he wasn't insane.

They rushed off towards the sound, it was close by.

The two rounded several hallways, struggling through the safety achieved when every nerve screamed danger. Max did her best to shake fear away; once inside the Tardis it was over. That thought caused her to stop short, just when the noise promised salvation around the corner.

"You okay?" Arthur asked. The fact that he could notice a difference convinced Max that his potential was very strong.

"Yeah," Max said without stepping forward. "Why don't you check it out first, nothing else like it and I don't want spoil the surprise." She managed to make her smile genuine, the first time outside the Rift Coliseum was an absolutely beautiful memory. "Big blue, you can't miss it."

Arthur opened his mouth but shut a second later, deciding to take Max's words to heart. He ran around the corner, giving Max a partial glance, his perplexed eyes said everything else. Max nodded, confirming it really was a police box. Arthur gulped and proceeded to step forward, a moment later and she heard the shocked revelation occur.

"Yeah, bigger on the inside and all that," Max said. "See you there in a moment."

She couldn't hear a reply but knew he might just be further within the Tardis. Before that, Max reclined against a nearby wall and closed her eyes. Her mind found a proper rhythm and created a good memory.

Being in an open field on Jaret V, the stars were out in force and for once no ships were flooding the sky. It was bright enough to catch the gold in Cassandra's hair, her eyes burned like stars. All Max needed was that warmth, kindness, and joy only Cassandra could and never need to see the stars again. That night occurred three days before the Sponsors arrived, it kept her alive through everything.

It was the moment Max Lin knew she would marry Cassandra Tally.

Max opened her eyes, the adventure done.

 _Time to come home._

Seeing the blue 'wooden' sheen of the Tardis always brought a grin to her face. It had been freaky, living on a time machine. Compared to that, dancing on a comet was practically stepping through puddles. Arthur left the door open, she decided to make sure that rules were laid out before Doc had to bring out the blackboard and chalk.

She went inside and immediately noticed how dark it got. The Tardis was usually insanely lit up. Arthur was lost in shadow.

"Is it always like this?" Arthur's voice didn't carry far but Max still jumped a little.

"Um, not really, usually Doc is lighting the tree up as if waiting for Santa. Was it hard to get in?" The Doctor mentioned there was a light switch but that it would take a degree in knowledge in thermonuclear dynamics and a toothbrush to find it in a week. They just had to wait up for the Time Lord.

"Not sure," Arthur said, slowly making his way to where Max was but still couldn't be seen. "The door pulled open easily once I put in the key."

 _P_

 _U_

 _L_

 _L_

 _E_

 _D_

Something was very, very, wrong…

The door shut and they were in darkness. Max turned to the noise just as something sharp jabbed into her neck. Max could barely murmur before hitting the hard… _stone floor?!_

"Max?" Arthur yelled.

The young woman could barely groan, every muscle had shut down but she could still see and hear.

A snap of fingers and there was light.

Arthur and Max, whose vision had blurred from the whatever chemical was slowly seeping into her, saw two things.

This was not the Tardis Max Lin knew, a massive stone temple of a thing that looked like it had gone under repairs that never stuck.

And this was not the Doctor.

"D-Dr. Rain." Arthur said, his eyes went directly to Max's inert body, Dr. Rain's foot pressed against her possessively. "What is this?" His voice carried an anger, he knew so little but at least understood everything was wrong in that moment.

Dr. Rain seemed indifferent to his words, lazily reaching into her lab coat and pulling out a device similar to a sonic screwdriver.

"I have neither time nor patience to bother explaining all this, dear little Artie, but I will say this. I have decided to retire my company, Ramification Nightmares was a success, my prize is ready." She knelt down and patted Max's shoulder. "Relax, little one, the device is careful to administer enough anesthetic to keep you groggy but cognitive. Trust me, I'm good with sleep." Max tried to shoot off a rage-filled glare but the woman was indifferent to everything, as if directing a play. And now it was Arthur's turn.

"I knew, the Doctor would like you, and how you'd 'gladly bring the kerosene to my operations'. You've played your part wonderfully, Arthur Lorin."

The professor clearly wanted to rush forward but Max was at Dr. Rain's mercy. Still, he tried to at least charge at the last minute.

"Watch this." She clicked a button on the screwdriver and the a shrill screech bombarded through the odd temple.

Arthur's body froze, much to his shock. He clutched at the side spot where the laser mark had been struck. Falling to his knees, waves of agony stretched across his face. Max could only watch as Dr. Rain chuckled.

"You see," she explained. "The Doctor failed to consider, as the fool often does, that I had merely 'turned off' the implant. This activated its immediate death protocol. Merely a safety measure in case someone decided they could fly off in my Tardis. But thanks to you, I know my old key works on either ship. Let that knowledge comfort you in death, the way a scientist should go out."

Arthur gasped, his mouth hanging open before slightly locking eyes with Max. The look was too brief before the eyes rolled backwards to white and his body fell.

"Hmm," Dr. Rain. "I hypothesized that should have ended a minute ago, well, good thing I'm in a chatting mood."

Max grunted through limp state, thrashing about but could only move flop like a dying fish.

"Pipe down," Dr. Rain said. "I don't want you going to sleep before I get to ask you a little question." The woman marched over to what resembled a strange stone ornament, similar to the Tardis' control console in the Doctor's ship. A sinking feeling, more than the drugs, overcame Max as a familiar groan boomed, like an Organ Piano at funeral. The companion could only stare at Arthur's fallen form, tears spilling down her eyes. She was blocked from seeing him by a pair of stern black boots. The lab coat, and the black pants and sleeved shirt expressed anything but a Doctor. Kneeling down, Dr. Rain gave Max an amused grin through wild locks of fiery orange hair.

"I'm going to ask you a question," Dr. Rain explained sweetly. "Get it right, and I'll let you stay awake when I call the Doctor. If not, nap time. I do hope you get it correct."

Without waiting for a response, the horrible Doctor pressed another syringe into her. Max coughed, finally able to take in air again. The device from before was also shown, at the ready.

"As you've probably guessed, I am not Dr. Rain," she said. "I am the creator of Ramification Nightmares, but I have another name. One that my old friend, the Doctor, knows quite well. After all, I killed them once." Her cruel smile promised that this was true, Max wondered if any of the other enemies could dare to say that they succeeded where this woman had. "And so, Max Lin, with what little knowledge the Doctor would expel; Who. Am. I?"

Only one name came up, the worst of the bunch.

"The Master."

Amusement faded instantly to aggravation.

"NOT EVEN CLOSE!" She snapped.

"That bloody buffoon nearly got us both killed in my Tardis when he tried to pilot it. Oh no, Max Lin, I am far greater than The Master, The Monk, or our insipid little Doctor."

She leaned in, a venomous smile etched on her face. Max could hear two hearts beat excitedly before being sedated.

"I am the Rani."

"Master of Chemicals and experimentation on Gallifrey. One of the Deca. And the one who felled the Doctor."

Max could barely process any of this as the soporific fully took hold of her body. She managed to hear one last thing before the darkness took over.

 _"I am a scientist at heart… I like to finish a problem… and the Doctor…She's the one I failed finish up. But no more…"_

" _Congratulations Max Lin, you're going to help kill the Doctor."_

By that point the darkness had consumed everything, all but the Rani's laughter and the horrors yet to come.


	10. Reunited

The Doctor ran, the charm of two hearts gave her double the adrenaline to rush about the fallen facility. Nothing mattered but the ability to reach Max, no threat would dare to cross her path. The Time Lord would save her friend.

Broken Sponsors and shriveled coils of Devil Leeches littered the floors. The desecration scared her, because she knew far worse still awaited them. Once again, _She_ managed to sneak back within the universe and tear things apart.

These encounters with Time Lords always forced the Doctor to remember just how easy it would be to become the Devil in the story. Her peace came from knowing what never to be, even by accident. The greatest tragedy came from the fact that whenever a Time Lord was involved, something worse always came into play. This place had become drained of evil, her enemy's purpose had been fulfilled… and still no Max in sight.

The Doctor ran faster.

Making it to the stairs, the Doctor discovered they'd been reduced to rubble in the chaos. Elevators were _never_ a smart move, even when working, which left the Time Lord with very few options. Except… a fun little trick she had tinkered with. Taking off her shoe, she shook out the Tardis key while taking out the Sonic Screwdriver. Centuries of quiet arguments through meditation next to the control console, after multiple incarnations, the Doctor finally acquisitioned the right to a rare boon from her craft.

It was time to pay up.

Flicking on the sonic, the Doctor concentrated a specific frequency at the Tardis key. Shimmering gold from the action, a familiar groan entered the Doctor's ears. _Newest car key,_ she thought with a grin, _now the car comes to You._

Taking a breath, the Doctor hoped that the trick for calling her ship worked for multiple keys at once. Her hearts sank as she witnessed a solitary gold key arrive on the console's dashboard. Sorrow shifted to determination as she used her screwdriver to get a read on its previous location. Jamming the device into the console, the Tardis casually slipping along streams of reality to place itself a little to the left of where the key had been.

Arthur's body had been left out for her to find. The stress on his face implied an agonizing end. She would avenge her brief comrade, and save Max.

The Tardis opened, the Doctor failed to relish its reassuring warmth. This was a loss, and a blinking light on the console made both hearts sink. She had a call.

A quick button press brought up the woman's face. The same red hair, cold eyes, and sweet grin from less than an hour ago but they carried a greater weight. That was curse of knowing names, and it would be spoken again.

"Rani." The Doctor's voice was laced in bitterness.

"Doctor," The Ran said with a cruel grin. "It's so grand to hear my name gives you dread. Those eyes of anger, if I had known, I would have revealed myself much sooner. That fury is… exquisite." She gushed while saying the word.

"You won't feel the same when we meet. But that can change; release Max, now."

Bemusement faded to annoyance with a grinding of teeth.

"Must we play these petty roles, Doctor," the Rani said, closing her eyes, lazily pantomiming her next words. " _She's innocent in this, let her go. It is between us, not blah, blah, blah…_ "

"Honestly, after almost two thousand years, you still prattle along like a child playing hero. Battling the cruel sorceress and saving the fair damsel, I even made her a sleeping beauty just so we could talk uninterrupted. You and your stories." Her chilling demeanor grew more frosted with the words."

"I love my stories; the heroine saves the universe these days."

"Not for long," the Rani said. "You see, I don't play fables and make believe. I believe in real things, like the many ways I can make Max Lin's stay on my Tardis the worst of her life and the longest of yours, should you wish to continue these petty games."

The Doctor paused, the time apart has made both Time Lords change. This parable could poison any chance of saving her companion. The Rani's skills were the Doctor's, she knew it would be nightmarishly easy to simply abandon Max somewhere in time and space to rot in total ambiguity. The only way for Max's survival to risk her own.

"You did all of this just to meet me, planning every detail to lead me to Ramification Nightmares."

"More or less," the Rani said. "That scene in the docking bay wasn't planned too well. You saved my life." Her smile was a stab at both hearts.

Recovering, Doctor decided the time for chat had faded.

"Okay then," the Time Lord said. "The game's done. You get to take charge. What exactly are you after? Why go through this if I was the target?"

The Rani, given a chance to explain, relished it.

"It has been some time since we last met, almost 35 Earth years. The Hell it took to be free of my own personal trap… never be mistaken in thinking me merciful considering how I could have done this. Simply put, I wished to understand you. When we met, simple minions and a mine cart were capable of doing you in. But now, now, you warped reality itself countless times, all with a sonic screwdriver. You now save planets, no longer mucking about in petty conflicts in the timestream. I've heard you called champion and demon with the same level of awe. After all these little tests, I must concur you surpassed me, chaotically."

"But I will have my victory, Doctor, the way only I can," the Rani typed at the screen as she talked. A series of special and chronological Gallifreyan symbols appeared. "And it starts now. These coordinates will place you exactly where and when I want you to suffer. Oh, and this code came with some tracking software. Should you choose to meander or bring friends to make it a party, even I might cringe at what Max will suffer in your negligence. See you immediately, my old friend."

The screen went black and the Doctor's thoughts grew darker. If the Tardis were tagged, she could only go to the unknown horror the Rani decided for her. A trap that would ensure her and Max's doom. However, fear was the smallest emotion in the Time Lord's mind.

She knew her enemy.

What started in a crooked nightmare of a sporting event, to a casino, and so many twisted factories now would end with the Rani. Just another troublemaker the Doctor had taken responsibility for in the past. Things had changed, the Time Lord had come to understand with every journey how the universe was built to crumble. Eventually, she came to understand the one constant element that negated the end countless times. The Doctor.

While she could never go back to those simpler, harder times, the impact of her actions boomed throughout galaxies. And yet the Rani had decided to not run with all the proof seen in these small conflicts. In that uncertainty… there is a chance.

With a breath, the Doctor confirmed the coordinates; twisting dials, pressing buttons, and pulling back a key lever. The Tardis hummed as the core came to life. A slight hitch in the sound echoed with concern.

"I know, girl," she said with a hand touching the console. "But this is the way we win it, for Max, the Tirolians, Jack, and Arthur. Time to give the Rani a proper education on what it means these days to be an enemy of the Doctor."

As the Tardis barreled into the timestream, the Doctor eyed the vortex calmly. She allowed herself one thought, the thought of if being the last time to see the flow of existence. A personal prayer as much as a decision. Confirmed with two simple sentences.

 _I will see the stars again._

 _If not, I'll make they're there for the rest._

And the Doctor went to war again.


End file.
